New MI6 head traced back to Cheltenham's unofficial spy school
She was 'very popular and good at everything', which is perhaps why she was marked for espionage. In 2009, Jonathan Evans, then MI5 director-general, said the school was 'deliberately targeted' for recruitment, which the writer and alumna Kate Johnson put down to the skills girls acquired in dormitories, such as those in interrogation and mental disintegration.
'The fourth form forced us to explain the facts of life,' she said. 'The girl after me knew nothing; when they explained to her, she burst into tears, sobbing, 'My mum and dad would never do that!' '
Although he is on the other side of the Atlantic, Peter Mandelson cannot escape Labour's travails. The former Svengali of the left, who is now our man in DC, was recently summoned by JD Vance, the vice-president, who, reportedly, had one question. 'What's going on with Reform?' he asked. 'I see that they're doing very well.' Given that Vance hopes to be president before the next UK general election, he may well be trying to get the lowdown on his future British partners. Reform have remarked that the VP is 'impeccably well-informed about British politics', but this would be a recent shift. It's but weeks since Vance referred to the UK as 'some random country'.
When her career in politics is over, the Labour MP Dawn Butler could become the star of a cop show. In a debate about mobile phone theft, she told the Commons how police apathy had driven her to vigilantism. Using the tracker on her stolen phone, she and a companion followed the crooks in a car. 'In true Starsky & Hutch style, we chased down the thieves,' she said. She called the police again and the culprits were caught, but they hadn't noticed their stalkers thanks to Butler's quick thinking. 'We pretended to kiss as they walked towards us,' she explained. That's how to clinch victory.
As another weekend dawns, MPs will be attending fetes and surgeries and all manner of local affairs, which leaves very little time for relaxation. Rachel Johnson, who is a sibling of two former MPs and the daughter of a former MEP, has been asked for ideas on how politicians could let their hair down. 'A lot of tennis, probably a lot of drinking,' she said. 'And probably having a lot of childcare in my brother's case. At least one nanny per child is my recommendation.' Not even Boris's present paymasters could afford that.
By his own admission, the career of Pulp's frontman, Jarvis Cocker, peaked on Friday when he read the centenary Shipping Forecast. He follows in a fine tradition of guest presenters, including Alan Bennett and Stephen Fry, but they did mock-ups or old versions of the real forecast. Only one celebrity was allowed to read the actual one but, as the former deputy PM John Prescott had served in the merchant navy, he had at least a sliver of qualification. It was the only broadcast where one of the regions was called 'umber.
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The Sun
21 minutes ago
- The Sun
Floor was slick with blood, screams echoed in tunnel, I felt every human emotion, says 7/7 survivor on 20th anniversary
ON the morning of July 7, 2005, journalist Peter Zimonjic and his wife Donna set off from their West London flat to catch a train into the city. It was a seemingly ordinary day, much like any other – but it would turn out to change Peter's life for ever. 7 7 7 For he was about to witness the worst terror incident since the 1988 Lockerbie disaster – and the first suicide bombings that the UK had ever seen. That morning, just before 9am, three al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists detonated devices on Tube trains in central London. An hour later, a fourth device was set off on a No30 bus near Euston station. The 7/7 bombings killed 52 people and injured over 770. Peter and Donna had caught a train at their local station in Hanwell, near Ealing. But when they had to change trains, Donna chose to take a different route from Peter's, as she was heavily pregnant and thought she would be unlikely to find a seat on the busy Circle Line. So Peter got on without her – and was caught up in one of the deadly explosions that has haunted him ever since. Tomorrow there will be a service of commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral for those who were killed or injured on the city's transport network. But for Peter, 52, it will be too heartbreaking to return. Here, he explains why. MY wife, Donna, was eight months pregnant with our first child on the morning of July 7, 2005. She had slept poorly, which meant so did I. At Paddington I kissed her goodbye, watched her train disappear into the tunnel, and marched to the Circle Line. I stood in the crowded carriage as the train accelerated towards Edgware Road. Around the same time a bomber got on at that station. As his train passed mine in the tunnel, he detonated his bomb. There was a sudden loud smashing noise which reminded me of the metal on metal of one car hitting another in a high-speed accident. I thought two trains had clipped one another as they passed in the tunnel. The thought of it being a bomb was an alien one. When the emergency lighting returned in the carriage, smoke was beginning to sting our senses. 'Clothes shredded' A family nearby comforted their terrified children. A man to my left grasped at the sealed doors to escape. Panic spread. From the carriage behind, a person asked for help. When a man in front of me moved towards the calling voice, I followed. The coach on the parallel track lay in darkness, but through the sliding doors we could see a leg and an arm wiggling into our train. The limbs belonged to a man trying to force his way through a hopelessly narrow crack in the doors — his clothes shredded, his skin dripping with blood, his face frantic. 7 7 The man I'd followed into that carriage, who I would later learn was named Tim Coulson, worked with me in a vain attempt to release the door. We smashed the window and jumped across the track into the darkened carriage of the neighbouring train. I climbed through the window frame and slid on a floor that was slick with blood. Bodies, some moving, some frozen, lay strewn about the dim carriage. Screams echoed through the tunnel, all pleading for help. Some were close, some seemed very far away. All were filled with a deep terror. It was a sound I'd not heard before or since. Stepping back and looking down the carriage, I could see a man in a suit trying to revive a woman lying prone on the carriage floor, her clothes almost blown off, with chest compressions. The outcome of that effort had been decided long before he got there. My heart raced, my breathing shortened, my head swelled — I didn't know what to do next. I was experiencing every human emotion at once — I was overwhelmed, incapable, impaired. I felt a hand on my leg, and when I looked down I saw a man lying on his back. He pointed below his waist where I could see he only had one leg. The stump that remained had been tied off with the remnants of a white collared shirt. I took off my suit jacket, folded it and put it under his head. I took off my shirt and ripped it into bandages, strengthening the tourniquet. For more than an hour I lurched through the carriage looking for people I could help, feeling that whatever I did was not enough. When we finally walked through the tunnel into daylight, I phoned Donna. I did not know if she was the victim of another bomb on another train. For 20 years I've lived my life trying to only think of the terror of that day on its anniversary Peter Zimonjic When I heard her voice I broke down for the first time. She had thought it was some kind of fault or disruption. When I told her it was a terror attack, she kicked into survival mode and helped me get home. I wrote an account of my experiences that ran in the Sunday papers immediately following the attacks. A man named Andrew Ferguson who recognised my description of him, of his efforts to help save people that day, reached out to me and we went for a pint. It was like meeting a lost brother. Help people connect For the Tube staff and the emergency service workers, the bombings happened at their place of business, alongside colleagues. But the passengers were all strangers, alien to one another. I set out to fix that and created to help people connect and fill in the blanks of the day. Many became the subject of my book: Into The Darkness: An Account Of 7/7, a retelling of the day we were trapped in the hellish scenes together. When I moved back to Canada two years later, Tim and his wife Judy came to stay with us and over the years we kept in touch. When I flew back for the tenth anniversary of the attack, they sat right behind us in St Paul's Cathedral. We embraced and smiled, so happy to see one another alive and well again. 7 7 For 20 years I've lived my life trying to only think of the terror of that day on its anniversary. The grandest resistance to that horror and death, I have always felt, is to live and to find joy, to love my wife and daughter Anja, now 20, born two weeks after the bombs, and my son Jakob, now 18. As this anniversary approached, I decided not to come back to London to mark the occasion. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Earlier this year the world lost Tim. I wouldn't be able to sit in St Paul's and feel that empty space behind me. The July 7 bombings taught me life is fleeting — which is one thing to know and another to really feel in your bones. Marked by the horror of the day, I was fortunate not to have faced the terrible injuries some survivors have had to bear, or the unfathomable loss of loved ones that others still live without. Most fortunate was that I was able to walk out of that tunnel and into the arms of my wife, that I was able to witness the birth of my children, that I was able to grasp the sunlight and pull myself out of that tunnel to live and love and survive. I GOT ABUSE DUE TO MY MUSLIM FAITH WHEN the first Tube bomber set off his device on the eastbound Circle Line train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate, Muslim passenger Mustafa Kurtuldu was sitting in the next carriage. After the blast he had an agonising 45-minute wait for emergency services to lead him to safety – and then went on to receive abuse because of his religion. Mustafa, now a designer, said: 'My bag was searched after we were rescued from the Tube, and when I was outside it was searched again after an officer asked my name. 'I sat next to a Spanish guy while I was being transported to hospital on a bus, but I felt as though he was treated differently to me and was given more sympathy. I was only 24 years old and had the burden of being an 'unelected official' for the Muslim community. 'I had the anxiety of explaining that I wasn't the 'bad guy'. 'In the weeks following the bombings I was attacked at knifepoint, and was made to condemn the attacks as a Muslim. 'If someone is a victim of any other kind of crime, they wouldn't be asked to condemn it. 'It's so irrational. You are held to a higher level of accountability. 'It still happens. I was on a flight back from Canada and was pulled to the side with other Asian men. 'When the flight attendant saw I was in business class, she apologised, so I asked if terrorists don't travel business class. It's ridiculous.' And 20 years on, Mustafa is still suffering. He added: 'I used to go to the memorial in Hyde Park and break down. 'I had such survivor's guilt. It has seriously affected me. 'Over time, you learn to pretend that it doesn't impact you. I tried to talk to others about it but people don't understand.'
Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Slash welfare for migrants to save the taxpayer
After a year in office, the travails of Sir Keir Starmer's Government can be summarised neatly in two words: 'benefits' and 'migration'. The British state has proven unable to tackle either, and the associated costs are proving ruinous, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves now looking at further tax rises as a result of Labour's welfare U-turn. These issues, too, are compounding one another. Rising worklessness feeds demand for migration even as Britain's apparent desire to act as the world's welfare state aids in fuelling the supply. With his half-hearted attempt at addressing one of these issues shredded by militant Left-wing backbenchers, Sir Keir now appears utterly devoid of ideas for addressing either. The Conservative Party is not, and is now calling on the Government to bar non-citizens from claiming the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and sickness top-ups to Universal Credit, with an exemption for those EU citizens given special status under the Brexit deal. The savings could prove to be substantial, with recent figures showing that the cost of benefits claims by households with at least one foreign national have doubled in recent years to nearly £1 billion a month. The overall bill for PIP, and its predecessor the Disability Living Allowance, is set to reach £28 billion a year by 2028-29. With the British state under increasing fiscal strain, and taxpayers in turn shouldering an ever greater burden for the maintenance of the welfare state, it is evident to all but the Labour backbenches that something must be done to rein in eligibility. Some of these measures should target the criteria through which conditions become eligible for payment – some 122,855 people were receiving enhanced PIP mobility payments in March for mixed anxiety and depressive disorders, figures which are hard to credit as a legitimate reflection of need – but others should look to reassert the idea that the welfare state is for the welfare of Britain and not the wider world. If they do not, we will find that we implicitly accept the inexorable growth of the state, and its demands on those generous enough to work to fund it. It is quite clear which direction Sir Keir's government is heading in, with Labour signing Britain up to a United Nations pact which makes 42 references to taxation, including specific mentions of 'high-net-worth individuals' and 'progressive tax systems'. While not a binding commitment on the behalf of this country, it is a strong indicator of where this Government's instincts lie – and where, come the Autumn Budget, the blow to taxpayers is likely to fall. The Conservatives deserve credit for being willing to push for a viable alternative.
The Sun
21 minutes ago
- The Sun
Emmerdale star ENGAGED to convicted drug lord she secretly visits in prison after he helped start giant meth factory
EMMERDALE star Lucy Pargeter is engaged to a big-time drugs gang member who she has visited in prison. Lucy, 48, has been to see Elliott Walker, 54, who helped start one of the largest amphetamine factories ever busted in Britain. 5 5 5 She drove four hours from her Yorkshire home to HMP Hollesley Bay, Suffolk, and back — 500 miles in all — where Walker is doing six years. Our picture shows her last weekend parking in the visitors' car park of the 460-capacity Category D nick. Lucy, who split from her former partner in 2019, had stated in a podcast that she was in an 'exclusive new relationship '. Last year, the mum of three, who has played Chas Dingle on ITV's Emmerdale for 23 years, revealed in a personal Instagram video post that she was wearing a diamond engagement ring. A source said: 'Her relationship has been the talk of the prison because some other visitors obviously recognised Lucy the other day as she's been on Emmerdale for ages. 'And Elliott has made no secret of telling other inmates she's his fiancee.' It is not known how and where Lucy met Walker, who is thought to be close to a release date. Walker, from Kidbrooke, South East London, was locked up in 2021 after admitting conspiracy to supply amphetamine. He bought equipment for the drugs lab in Henley-in-Arden, Warks, which was smashed by the National Crime Agency. It was said to be capable of producing 400kg of amphetamine — with an estimated street value of £10millon — every month. Emmerdale's Lucy Pargeter splits from long-term boyfriend Rudi Coleano Gang members had chemistry training in order to run the operation and the drugs were distributed in London, Kent and the West Midlands. Another gang member got 18 years after admitting drug and money laundering offences. Others were found guilty at trial. Lucy, who came third on I'm A Celebrity in 2013, has told previously that she had breast implants removed as they hampered her breathing. The Sun on Sunday has approached her for comment. 5
